What The F*** Is An NFT?!?

Believe it or not, somebody might buy this picture of a cartoon monkey! Why would somebody pay so much for just a picture? Because this picture is an NFT!

What is an NFT and why are people buying them for so much money?

NFT stands for a Non-fungible token. The pricing of the NFT usually depends on the value of the art piece, the artist, and the trading platform. Typically, non-fungible tokens are music or videos; however, they can also be pictures or even plots of land in the metaverse (an explorable virtual reality and augmented reality universe that can be used to trade cryptos). What makes these tokens special compared to crypto coins is that they are one-of-a-kind; when you buy them, you are the NFTs original owner. That’s it! The NFT is yours!

While the NFT art market is constantly growing, the art serves no purpose beyond being modern art that you can sell or use as your profile picture. However, some are taking the NFT trend to heart and investing up to millions of dollars in NFTs. One trader named ‘z’ routinely posts about his traded NFTs. One of his tweets states, “Why I spent $46,300/15

ETH for a PNG file of a grey pet rock and why I think it could end up being one of the best investments I make since getting into crypto.” ‘z’ reasons that the NFT market is growing and becoming the future of art. You cannot make this stuff up!

How are NFTs useful?

When I say NFTs are a scam, I specifically mean NFT art. NFTs can serve a multitude of purposes. Counterfeiting would be nonexistent if people could buy tickets as NFTs because they could be verifiable through the coding behind the token. Also, there would be less of a chance that you buy a fake ticket since all non-fungible tokens can prove if the ticket is original. Also, NFTs can help with land and identity fraud. According to The Economic Times, “Because non-fungible tokens and the blockchains they run on are practically impossible to tamper with, and allow for easy verification, NFT-based land records are a potential solution to crimes relating to identity and ownership.” While NFT art is unpredictable and ridiculous, NFTs might come of use in the near future. Investing in cryptocurrencies that support NFTs would be logical compared to betting on an individual piece of ‘art’.

When should I get in on the modern art action?

You should get into art NFTs sometime in the next few… never! Do not gamble on computer art!

While cryptocurrencies and NFTs are held together in crypto wallets, they have different uses and purposes. Cryptos are meant to transact money faster and cheaper than traditional banks and have the goal to replace traditional banks. On the other hand, NFT art is essentially just trading computer art. If people spend millions of dollars on resold computer art, why should I not buy-in?

There is no telling which NFT is worth money and which is not. Too many influencers take advantage of the mass confusion and create false speculation to sell their art pieces for sky-high prices. I've found many ludacris speculators on TikTok stating, “this NFT could be worth a lot of money in a few years,” or "you're going to be mad when you realize you missed out on all of this money." While a few people are somehow making money from their NFTs, betting on virtual art is unpredictable in a market of trillions of circulating art pieces that might look ironically similar to the one you want to buy. Keep your money away from most—if not all—art NFTs since most of them are scams.